Dallas-Van Buren-Henry County IA Archives Biographies.....Neff, Thomas Daniels 1833 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com December 25, 2007, 12:00 am

Author: Lewis Publishing Co. (1896)

THOMAS DANIELS NEFF.-Among the leading agriculturists of Dallas county, none
stands higher than does the gentleman whose name introduces this review.

   He is of Swiss descent, the family having been founded in this country by two
brothers who left Switzerland; but later one returned to his native land, and
the other devoted his entire life to farming in this country. Our subject's
birth occurred in Montgomery county, Ohio, on the 7th of May, 1833, and he is a
son of Benjamin Neff, who also was born in the Buckeye State. His paternal
grandfather, Daniel Neff, came to Ohio from Virginia in 1800, being one of the
earliest settlers of that section of the country, and in the midst of the
wilderness developed a fine farm, on which he died at the age of seventy-nine
years. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Elizabeth Kauffman, also was born
in Virginia, and on the old Ohio farm died at the age of eighty years. Benjamin
Neff died on the farm where our subject was born, at the age of fifty years. He
had married Sarah Daniels, a native of Chenango county, New York, who died at
the home of her daughter in Henry county, Iowa, at the age of eighty-four. Her
father, Thomas Daniels, served for four years in the Revolutionary war. His
death occurred in Dayton, Ohio; at the age of seventy-five, and his wife,
Elizabeth, who was a native of Scotland and came to the United States with her
parents when but eight years old, also died in Dayton, at the age of seventy
years. Two uncles of our subject participated in the war of 1812, while one was
in the war between Texas and Mexico.

   On the old home farm Thomas D. Neff passed the days of his boyhood and youth,
during which time he received his literary education in the district schools and
at Dayton, Ohio. He remained under the parental roof until the fall of 1857,
when he came to Iowa, settling first in Van Buren county, where he ran a nursery
for about two years, and in 1859 removed to Henry county, where he purchased
wild land and developed a good farm.

   Mr. Neff was married on the 13th of October, 1859, to Miss Mary Campbell, who
was born in Shelbyville, Indiana, and is a daughter of John and Minerva (Cotton)
Campbell. The following children grace their union: Alfred J., Mary F.,
Henriette G., John B., Gerty, Harry L. and Hattie K. They lost their eldest
child in infancy. Henriette G. was united in marriage with O. R. Woodward, March
7, 1895. The father of Mrs. Neff was a native of Delaware, and he departed this
life in Pasadena, California, at the age of eighty-two years, while her mother
was a native of Ohio, and died in Indiana at the age of sixty-five.

   After his marriage Mr. Neff continued to live on his farm in Henry county
until about 1870, when he sold and removed to Polk county, where he again bought
raw prairie land and made a fine farm, on which he resided until 1887. In that
year he disposed of that place and purchased his present farm of 160 acres,
which was partially improved; but he now has it under a high state of
cultivation, with over five miles of tiling and all the improvements and
accessories of a model farm of the nineteenth century.

   Mr. Neff has ever been quite prominent in the localities where he has made
his home, and by his fellow citizens who recognize his worth and ability has
been elected to many local offices, the duties of which he ever discharged to
the satisfaction of all concerned. His first presidential vote was cast for
Winfield Scott, but on the organization of the Republican party he joined its
ranks, voting for John C. Fremont in 1856, and has since continued to fight
under its banner. During the war he was compelled to stay at home on account of
being a cripple, but no man in the entire State did more good or was more active
in the support of the Union cause than Thomas D. Neff. He and his family are
consistent and faithful members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and do all in
their power for the welfare of their fellow men.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

A MEMORIAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF IOWA

ILLUSTRATED

"A people that take no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will
never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote
descendants."'—MACAULAY.

"Biography is by nature the must universally profitable, universally pleasant,
of all things."—CARLYLE

"History is only biography on a large scale"—LAMARTINE.

CHICAGO: THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
1896


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